"I feel like my work has been my path to freedom from having grown up in a segregated environment.“


-Anna Deavere Smith

posted in freedom


I feel like my work has been my path to freedom from having grown up in a segregated environment.

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"I was a mimic when I was a child. I mimicked the teacher and made friends that way, actually. That was a very subversive activity, because I was a goody-goody who never got in trouble. But if I went off in the corner and mimicked the teacher, people loved it."

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"When I got out of acting school, I was lucky to have gotten any job at all. A lot of people hiring African American actresses - it was right after 'Roots,' and for society, not me, it was great. Nice richly dark-skinned people was the fashion, and I was not."

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"Movies, as evidenced by a chorus of protesting and celebrating Americans, influence broader trends."

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"Men must stop being jealous of their power and generously allow freedom and responsibility to others. The reward is harmonious families and society."

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"Although we have, in theory, abolished human slavery, recognized women's rights, and stopped child labor, we continue to enslave other species who, if we simply pay attention, show quite clearly that they experience parental love, pain, and the desire for freedom, just as we do."

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"What is our freedom fight about? Is it about the liberation of children or just having sex with them?"

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"If I am outspoken of the dangers of intemperance to members of our armed forces, it is because we are all especially concerned for the welfare of those who are risking their lives in the cause of freedom."

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"We must guard against the overreaching hand of big government trying to take away our freedom. And we must always protect the environment in a manner consistent with our values."

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"The main thing I believe in is freedom."

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